


Friday Night Is Usually Date Night Isn't It?

by sinesofinsanity



Category: Batman Beyond
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-28
Updated: 2013-08-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 21:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/945088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinesofinsanity/pseuds/sinesofinsanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dana is stuck at home with nothing to do. When Terry calls her from the Bat-plane she knows it has to be more serious than he's letting on, and he'll need more help than just what he's asking for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friday Night Is Usually Date Night Isn't It?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Batman Beyond](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/26607) by K-Fuyu. 



> Thanks to lovemondotrasho at fanficiton dot net for the beta!
> 
> Apologies to K-Fuyu for asking to write a fic based on an image, then taking a year and a half to get to the actual writing of it.

Another week, another Friday night stuck at home. Dana groaned and waved a hand to turn to a new section on her digi-pad. Jackie was at cheer-leading practice, Blade had a date, Max had won a trip to some software developer’s conference in Star City, and Terry, for the fifth time this week, was busy, leaving her with no one to hang out with, no one to study with, and nothing to do. She groaned again and flopped back onto her bed.

Her phone buzzed, an unknown number. “Hello?”

“Hey, Dana” She sat up in surprise. It was Terry, the number was blocked then, he was probably calling from the bat-plane or the cave. Judging by the rusty-blades and smoking-gravel pitch to his voice, she was betting on the plane. 

“Terry? What’s going on?”

“I need you to look something up for me.”

“You can’t get on the web in the plane?”

“Only peripherally, and I can’t be looking at the screen while I’m driving.”

“What’s this really about?” She asked, doing her best to hide her relief that he wasn’t calling to be picked up at the hospital. “You never call me for this stuff.” With a flick of her fingers, she closed the book on her digi-pad and opened a browser.

“I know, but the old man’s at some investor’s thing with Drake in Metropolis, and with Max out of town, you’re the only one I can ask. “

“Fine. What do you need?”

“I need you to get on Arkham Asylum Admin access and check out the inmate video feed.”

Her fingers froze above the holo-keyboard projected from her digi-pad. “Video feed? At Arkham? Terry, what am I looking for?”

“You need to find out if Spellbinder is still at Arkham, or if he’s escaped or on parole or something.”

She stood, her voice rising in pitch. “Spellbinder? What’s going on?” Glancing around, she grabbed a bag and started shoving things haphazardly into it. After dropping her keys twice she had to stop and take a breath.

His voice relaxed a bit, hints of the Terry she knew coming through. “I got a tip there was activity around his old headquarters. I’m there now and there’s definitely something going on, I just can’t tell what.”

“You think he got out?”

“That’s what I need you to check.”

“Don’t get short with me, McGinnis. If it is Spellbinder, will you back off until Mr. Wayne comes back?” A quick check of the SmartHome app on her digi-pad confirmed that her dad was still napping and her mom was focused on some crime drama on TV. She could slip out with just a wave as an explanation.

“Probably not.” He replied in the casual way that Dana both loved and hated.

She sighed.“Well it was worth a shot.”

“Are you stalling?”

“No?”

“Dana,” 

“Hey, if you’re not fighting Spellbinder, you’re more likely to come home safe.” She pointed out.

“If you don’t look this up I’m going in anyway.”

Ouch, the steel and gravel were back. She’d pushed him too far.

Nestling the digi-pad into its slot on her hover bike, she turned the ignition and pulled out into the street, keeping an eye on the screen.

“Alright, alright, how do I get admin access?”

“Head to the log-in screen username ‘admin’, password ‘0ARc13’”

She waited until she was stopped at a light and punched in the code. “Whose account is this?”

“Is Spellbinder in his cell?” He asked, ignoring her question.

“Chill Ter, it’s loading.”

The light changed, she sped off, headed away from downtown toward the bluffs.

“Whose access are we hacking here?” She tried again.

“It’s Commissioner Gordon’s, and it can’t be taking that long to load.”

“Got it.”

Dana shifted her weight, holding onto the bike with her left hand so she could navigate the screen with her right. “Okay we’ve got Shriek, a couple of splice addicts, some generic psychopaths…“ She waved a hand to flip through the list, trying to keep both eyes on the road and watch the screen at the same time. “Here’s his cell.”

The screen filled with a view of a white room. A desk, a bed and a small bookshelf occupied the visible walls, each was also painted white.

A thin man with mousey hair and round glasses sat at the desk, pouring through a large textbook and fiddling with a small wire contraption. Almost as soon as she recognized the man, a guard walked in and confiscated the wire device, crushing it in his hand as he walked by the camera. The man at the desk looked briefly stricken, and then his face hardened with anger as he turned back to the book.

“He’s definitely in there, looks like he hasn’t moved in a while either. “

“You’re sure? It’s not just a looped video?”

“Positive. Hey, if this is the Commissioner’s account, why didn’t you call her?

There was a rumble on the other end as the bat-plane landed. “I’ve called in too many favours from her recently. If she’s caught helping me, she could lose her job.”

“There’s gratitude for you.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So who’s at Spellbinder’s place?” she asked as she pulled into a side street. Terry was used to being on com-link while on mission. As long as she kept him talking he wouldn’t hang up.

“Looks like it’s just Jokerz.”

A short burst of static came over the line and the background noise became louder as Terry approached the hideout. Clearly the Jokerz weren’t trying to hide that they had found the place. She shuddered at the all-too-familiar sound of crazed laughter and sped up as she turned down a private lane. 

“I’m going in. Keep an eye on Spellbinder.” He ordered, “If he moves funny, or you get the smallest hint that something’s not on the level, let me know.”

“Wait, don’t-” She shouted. There was a thud and the laughter stopped for a moment, only to return louder and punctuated by whoops and cat-calls. “I’m not there yet!” In her panic she jerked the handlebar and swerved to the side of the lane. Grabbing the bike with both hands she forced it back on track, kicking up gravel as she went.

A few sounds of impact came over the phone, “Not where? What are you doing?”

“I’m on my way to Mr. Wa- uh, headquarters.”

“You’re WHAT? Ugh!” A faint whoosh followed by a crash. Something had hit him hard enough to send him flying.

“TERRY!” Dana shouted.

“Not on this line.” Came the groaned reply.

“Sorry, sorry. Batman."  It still felt weird to say. “Are you alright?”

“Fine.” A grunt, followed by more impacts, she couldn’t tell by sound which was a punch or a kick, but she was reasonably certain Terry wasn’t on the receiving end. “What are you doing at the old man’s place?”

“You gave me a key, remember?” She reached the gate and jumped down from her bike to unlock it.

“That was, ugh, for emergencies.”

A punch, she was sure of the sound this time, the Jokerz must be closing in, forcing him to fight more hand-to-hand rather than using acrobatics or gadgets from the suit. The laughter was getting louder, but fewer blows seemed to be landing.

“And what do you call this?” She hopped back on her bike and sped the remaining distance to the house.

“I can handle this, I wha-“

More sounds of impact. Dana pulled to a stop before the imposing oak doors and wrenched her digi-pad out of the holder. Fumbling in her bag for the key, she didn’t even look back when her bike overbalanced the kickstand and crashed to the ground. She thought she could hear a noise on the other side of the door, but it was hard to hear over the banging in her earpiece. As soon as the door opened, a great black shape jumped out of the shadows and into the foyer. She screamed, nearly dropping the keys and her bag.

There was a woosh over the phone, "Are you alright?" asked Terry, sounding strained.

"It's just Ace." She replied shakily. The big dog was crouched, teeth bared and staring at her, but not making a sound. She forced herself to relax and stepped forward, hands in front of her. Ace stood and gave her a sniff. Seeming to find her okay, or at least non-threatening, he woofed breathily and sat, letting her walk by him into the house. Suddenly her brain registered the silence on the other end of the phone. "Batman?"

"I'm here."

"The fight-"

"Flew above it. I'm on a roof nearby."

"Why?" She stopped and looked around. He was being curt, which meant he was pouty, and she wasn't sure she could focus on her boyfriend's moods and search Wayne manor when she wasn't even sure what she was looking for. A soft noise made her turn, Ace had followed her from the entryway.

"Because I thought you were in trouble." he groaned, "I can't do this - I'm hanging up."

"Wait no! I'm almost there. I just need to figure out where I'm going." She rushed into another room. Ace stayed where he was.

"You shouldn't be going anywhere. The Old Man doesn't even know I gave you a key."

"Then it's a good thing he's away, isn't it?"

"If he was here, I wouldn't be distracted worrying about you. I nearly got beat up by Jokerz just now. They got way too many hits in because my head was in two different places."

Ouch, that one stung. She looked around the ornate kitchen in frustration, then snapped her fingers and turned around. Ace hadn't followed her from that sitting room with the dusty chairs. It had to be something there.

"Come on T- Batman, just give me a clue here. If I can see you I won't need to talk to you."

"Fine," she could practically hear him rolling his eyes, "The old clock in th-" A loud bang interrupted him.

"Terry!" she ran for the room where she'd left Ace. He was still there and looked up when she stumbled in.

"Ugh, wasn't expecting that." was Terry's croaked reply.

She relaxed slightly, but tensed again at the thump that came over the line next. "What am I looking for?"

More sounds of impact, "Uh - Can't.... huh-", he grunted out.

 _Don't hang up!'_ she thought desperately.

There was an old grandfather clock against the opposite wall. _But what am I supposed to do with it?_ She tried to block out the sounds from the fight as she crossed the room and ran her hands around the clock. The latch was loose and the door opened easily.

Glancing back at the dog, she bit her lip, Ace hadn't moved from his spot, and where before he had been sitting stiffly, now he was tensed - a mass of muscle more on edge than any dog she'd ever seen _._

 _I hope this works.'_ She thought as she started fiddling with the hands of the clock.

With a creak, the clock swung inward revealing an ancient stair. In an instant, Ace was at her side. He paused to sniff the air and then disappeared down the stairs, she followed.

"I found it." she reported. A grunt and more thumps were her only reply.

She rushed down the stairway which opened to a large cavern, the shock from seeing the size of the place nearly made her trip. Off to one side, a training area was set up with floor mats, weights, parallel bars, punching bags, and equipment that she couldn't name but had seen at different gyms. Closer to the stairs, a couple of tables were set up - one with electronic equipment that would have Max drooling and another with equipment she recognized from chemistry lab.

A glass display case showcasing uniforms of vigilantes past was against one wall with other display cases disappearing into the unending shadows opposite her. What ultimately caught her attention was the massive computer set up beyond the lab tables. Screens covered the wall from floor to ceiling, a multi-input control panel in front and the blinking lights of the server just visible in a recess behind it.

She rushed over to the computer and booted it up. Over the phone Terry's breathing was becoming more ragged as the thumps from kicks and punches continued. 

"Oof!" Manic laughter echoed over the line.

"What's going on?"  She asked. A password prompt popped up on the computer. She tried the 0ARc13 code; when that failed she tried it again with different letter-symbol variations. On the fourth try it worked.

"They're toying with me." groaned Terry, "I keep getting hit from behind, and I think that fall earlier took out one of my boots.  I can't get above them."

"Just Jokerz huh?"

"Yeah, yeah. They've got some of Spellbinder's tech, but either they don't know how to use it, or there's just too many of them for it to work right. They never completely disappear." The laughter got louder as the Jokerz closed in again. 

She found the button for the mask feed. "Got it! Your eyes are my eyes, Batman." she crowed. The screen showed a tall female Joker with multi-coloured hair and bloody flowers tattooed down her arms. She laughed and stuck out her tongue as a black-costumed arm flew out and barely missed her face. The screen careened wildly when another thump indicated someone had gotten Batman from behind again.

"Why are you focusing on her? Is she the leader or something?"

"What?"

"You're only fighting one of them. I thought you said there was a ton."

"There are." The Batman voice had been getting darker and deeper through the evening - now it was practically a growl.

"So where are they?" Dana prompted

The screen whirled as Terry knocked a Joker out with a spinning kick. Dana caught a glimpse of a crowd before the screen turned again and focused on a short male Joker who was cackling wildly and juggling rubber chickens.

"Stop! Go back."

"What?" asked Terry.

 _Not Terry, Batman,_ she forced herself to think. Referring to him in her head as 'Batman' made the reality of what they were doing less terrifying. Plus she'd be less likely to slip up over the coms again.

"There's a big crowd to your left. This guy's nothing."

The screen turned just in time for her to see Batman catch a balloon that could be filled with anything from napalm to tear gas and lob it back at the crowd. A few more thumps - the screen stayed steady as Terry blocked each potential blow, and then the image swung around as he kicked at the legs of the chicken-juggling clown.

"What do you see now?"

The Joker had so many piercings his face blended with his polka-dotted shirt. He was making hooting noises and catcalling whenever Batman missed. "You're fighting one guy again. He keeps jumping out of your way but isn't usually fast enough."

"&a%#n' slag-it!" Terry grabbed the other kid's arm and wrenched it behind his back, turning hard to the right as he did.

"Watch your mouth!" Dana leaned forward, watching the screen. "There! Another crowd, bigger than the last one."  

"I'm only seeing one guy." The group of Jokerz had been prepping more balloons and lining up shots when Batman turned around. As soon as he was facing them they let fly.

"DUCK!"

He did, after giving the teen in his grip a shove toward the crowd. The first balloon to hit was filled with tear gas and weighted with water to make it pop on impact. The unfortunate Joker was pelted with friendly fire balloons, most of which seemed to be filled with glue, a few more with tear gas, some with powders, feathers, or glitter and one which just caught fire before hitting anything. Batman rolled to the side; a few of the Jokerz shouted at him.

"Where now?"

She directed him, pointing out a crowd of Jokerz holding more dangerous toys, including the potato cannon loaded with fireworks that had taken him off the roof earlier. The Jokerz's strategy seemed to be tricking him into fighting one or two of them who were good enough to duck out of the way while the rest of them prepped a mass assault or just taunted Batman's misses. 

"Left, no right! Sorry. Stop! No, go back, you should've stopped earli- there!" It was a lot more difficult being someone else's eyes than Dana would have guessed. After Terry had taken out the Joker with the potato/firework cannon (or at least taken out the cannon), the rest had scattered to reassemble by another alley.

"We need to find the projector," said Terry, knocking down a Joker with a sweeping kick, "It's usually a sphere and should be pretty close by so they can keep changing the images." He blocked another few punches then struck out blindly at the centre of the group. They scattered, laughing wildly.

Dana directed Batman to crowds of Jokerz twice more. Each time they were more cautious, assembling slower, not standing as tight together and attacking faster. Terry held his own, even managed to destroy a few more of their weapons, but with his slower reaction time, it was a losing battle. The Jokerz could tell he was faltering and added more insults to their cat-calls.

"That your mommy on the coms Batsy? Tell 'er I'll stop by later."

"That's just one guy calling on your right, there're four or five in front of you, and a spaced out bunch to your left." A side benefit of having to focus on directing Batman was that Dana could tune out the Jokerz taunts. A few got through though and she had to remind herself to point him at the worst weapons, not the worst name-callers.

"Say bye-bye Bats I'm gonna turn you to hamburger."

"Save me some, I'll be hungry after this."

"You can have it, I like my loser grilled."

"Okay, turn right,” Instructed Dana. “Not that far. Good, straight ahead of you he's got a shock stick. Wait!"

"Is he there or not?" growled Batman.

"Aw he's confused. You need a map, Bat-freak?"

"Can't really be Batman. It's one of those fat monkeys, just trying on his costume for the day."

"Hey monkey! Hoo-hoo ha-ha!"

"The projector's a glowing sphere right?" Dana asked.

"Not a monkey, a pig. A fat, lazy, stupid pig."

"Takes after his momma then?"

"Where?" Batman demanded.

"If I cut out his stomach you think his guts'll be yellow too?"

"Nah, he's no coward, just brain-dead stupid."

"Just slightly to the right, under that overhang. There's two Jokerz holding it between them." Dana directed him.

"I say we rip out his guts and see for sure."

Batman tossed a batarang toward the Jokerz holding the image projector. It embedded in the wall above and to the left of them, causing the other Jokerz to laugh and point.

"Wait for it."

The batarang exploded causing one of the Jokerz to be thrown forward and the other to shriek and cover her head, panicking. The glowing sphere dropped to the ground and rolled for a moment before Terry picked it up.

"You know how to turn that thing off?" asked Dana, opening random files to try to find a manual.

"This'll do."Batman threw the orb on the ground with enough force that it shattered into a pile of glass and circuitry. The Jokerz stopped laughing.

"Shall we continue?" he asked menacingly.

Dana shook her head and sat back to watch the rest of the fight, which didn't last long. Without their tech, the fight was a lot less fun for the Jokerz, so most of them scattered. Not quite ten minutes later, Batman was cuffing those who'd stayed (and those who'd been knocked out or dazed earlier in the fight) to a light pole. "I'll leave you for the cops to pick up. I'll buzz them to come by, eventually."

"That mean you're coming back here?" asked Dana over the Jokerz's complaints.

"I still need to go through Spellbinder's stash, make sure there aren't more gadgets that could fall into the wrong hands, and then finish my patrol. You should just go home."

"Can it, McGi- Batman. You just got beat up by a whole slew of Jokerz, and you're breathing funny. Come take me home yourself, so you can reassure me you're still alive."

"Come on, you shouldn't even be there anyway."

"Then I'm staying until you get here, even if I stay all night.  I'm not leaving until I know you're okay."

He grumbled, but tossed a couple of batarang-grenades into Spellbinder's storage bunker and signaled the bat-plane.

Dana closed the view screen and looked around the cave. It was still a lot to take in. Ace was sitting by the computer, watching her, but not as stiffly as before.

"Have you been there the whole time?" He tilted his head slightly, one ear twitched. "Well, come here then." She held out a hand for him to sniff.

By the time they heard the rumble of the bat-plane coming in, she was sitting on the floor rubbing his belly. Ace jumped up when the plane landed and ran over, she followed more slowly.

With a hiss, the plane opened, and the black-clad figure within climbed out. He was moving stiffly, and his mask couldn't hide the wince of pain when Ace bumped his thigh. She gave him a look. Slowly, he reached up and pulled back the mask. His expression, when she could see it clearly, was sheepish.

"Well, I'm alive at least."

Then she was kissing him. He stepped back in surprise, but returned the kiss when she stepped with him, pressing him against the plane. Ace barked, but they ignored him, lost in each other.

Her hands could not stop moving, running through his hair, tracing his shoulders, moving all across his body to reassure her mind that he was still in one piece. When he hissed in pain, she moved on, keeping track of his injuries. Finally she reached up and locked her hands behind his head, one tangled in his hair, deepening the kiss. A low moan escaped him and she slipped one leg around his. He was so much taller than her, she was standing on her tip-toes, only stable thanks to years of dance class and her grip on his shoulder.

She moved down to kiss his neck. The costume came up just high enough to let him to move his jaw, but that gave her plenty of room. He tasted like sweat and adrenaline, and she could feel the slight vibrations against her lips when he spoke.

"I'm so glad I called you."

She laughed and ran her tongue along his throat. "Not so useless after all, am I?"

He looked down at her, forcing her face away even as his arms tightened, pulling her closer. "You were incredible." He blinked, noticing her extra height, then glanced down at her tip-toes.  "You can't be comfortable like that."

"I'll be fine." She stretched up to gain another quarter inch and pressed her mouth to his.

"Mmmm," he responded eagerly, his hands shifting to her waist.

Suddenly her feet left the ground. She gasped and nearly pulled away, but her mouth was finally open enough to admit his tongue. Clinging to his shoulders she reveled in the confusing interplay of control and abandon that kissing him made her feel. He turned, lifted her higher and sat her gently on the wing of the Batplane. She broke off when his hands left her waist, but kept hers clasped behind his head. Their faces were essentially level now.

"Better?"

"Much." She leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the lips.

Laughing, he moved closer. She leaned back with a teasing grin, keeping the same distance between their faces. He darted in and kissed her as quickly as she had, almost a peck more than anything.

"You're a mess, McGinnis."

Truly he was. A bruise was swelling on one cheekbone, and she had tasted blood from his split lip, not to mention eleven places he hadn't wanted her to touch, plus any injuries he wasn't admitting to yet.

An expression that was half grimace, half resignation flickered across his face, "I guess I should change and take you home." He shifted but stayed where he was when she didn't release her hands behind his neck.

"Is this a macho thing? Because if you're hiding broken ribs or something I will force you to go to a hospital."

He grinned and rolled his eyes. "I know you will. And it's not. I just thought of how much the Old Man will kill me if he finds you here."

She leaned in and kissed him slowly. After a moment, he pulled back with a grin and turned around. When he gently pulled her hands apart, she slumped onto his shoulder. "Come on Dana, he could get back at any time."

She nuzzled into his neck, smiling when his breath hitched. "Would you relax?  He said he would be in Metropolis until tomorrow, didn't he?"

"I also said no guests," Came a gravelly voice from the top of the stairs, "But we can all see how that turned out."

Terry jumped so suddenly, he knocked Dana backwards. “Bruce! You’re back. I… uh, I-“

Bruce stopped him with a glare.

“It’s my fault Mr. Wayne.” Supplied Dana, sitting up, the Original Batman didn’t terrify her quite as much as he did Terry.

“Clearly, but not entirely.”

Dana slid off the Batplane and moved to stand with her boyfriend, “Terry called me for help. He was injured in the fight, so I made him come back. We were just…” she trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Bruce raised his eyebrow.

“I am familiar with both injuries and youth. I have some idea of what you were doing.” He pointed his cane at Terry, his other hand resting on Ace who had run over while Dana and Terry were distracted. “Take her home. Now. We’ll discuss this tomorrow, assuming you won’t be,” he paused, his glare growing somehow more menacing, “busy.”

Terry swallowed. “I’ll be there.”

“Good.” He nodded briskly. “Miss Tam, kindly don’t leave your bike in the drive next time you come by. I have a garage for a reason.” 

He turned and shooed Ace in front of him back into the main house, leaving the stunned couple behind.


End file.
